women — Murasaki is the daughter of Fujitsubo’s
The spells of the healer whom Genji meets on the
older brother, Prince Hyōbu, and thus her niece.
mountain, and his own meditations, prove eff ective,
Although Murasaki will become one of the most
for soon he is well enough to investigate his sur-
central fi gures in the tale, thoughts of her f re-
roundings, in particular an intriguing abode nestled
quently mingle with those of Fujitsubo in Genji’s
amid the temple buildings and hermitages that dot
the hills below. From far above, Genji sees the house,
surrounded by a brushwood fence, as well as several
page girls emerging to fetch water and fl owers for
Buddhist devotions. His interest piqued, the young
courtier descends the mountainside for an eye-level
view of the house, which is the moment captured in
Mitsunobu’s painting. The house is framed by two
cherry trees in full bloom and connects to a temple
building in the “overhanging style” ( kakezukuri), the
supporting columns of which are visible in the mid-
dle of the painting, while a shelf on the left with its
own miniature roof is for holding Buddhist off erings,
signaling that the house’s inhabitants are devotees.
With his attendant Koremitsu at his side, Genji
peers over the fence to behold a bustling scene in
42 | The Tale of Genji
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mind, and here she seems almost to materialize out
of his intense desire for the great lady.
The young Murasaki has been residing with her
maternal grandmother, an ailing nun who has been
charged with the girl’s care since her mother’s death.
It is the grandmother’s voice that is captured in the
painting’s accompanying poem. There she expresses
a desire to leave the world in a spiritually elevated
manner, free from attachment, as well as a reluc-
tance to do so while the fate of her granddaughter
remains undecided. The calligraphy is inscribed on
green paper evoking a fi eld of grass, and begins with
a boldly brushed sequence of kana with the word
“to grow” ( oitatan), a reference to the “young grass”
( wakakusa) in the nun’s care. The inscription jumps
from the undecorated center of the sheet to the ver-
tical dragon border on the right, where our eye is led
above to the word “dew” ( tsuyu) in the upper right
corner. The nun uses this poetic metaphor to refer
to herself, a fragile drop that should have evaporated
but that clings stubbornly to the young grass. The
word “dew” is brushed conspicuously as a logograph
instead of in kana at the highest spot on the paper.
Yet in another sense it is also diminished in size and
an action is karmically determined. Soon he learns
hidden in the border, conveying the ambiguous posi-
that the nun has passed away, making the circum-
tion of the nun who utters the verse while longing
stances right for him “to pluck the young fl ower.”
for her own nonexistence. The fi nal line of the poem
The painting anticipates the girl’s fate by
laments her inability to “vanish into the sky,” a sen-
removing the nun f rom the scene and placing six
timent conveyed with brushstrokes that trail across
indigo-colored sutra scrolls on an armrest as her
the top of the paper like smoke from a funeral pyre.
metonymic replacement. In the tale, the nun reads
Later, as Genji pines for Fujitsubo, his desire to pos-
f rom a sutra while Genji observes her, and the vast
sess Murasaki intensifi es, whereupon he intones the
majority of pictorial representations of this scene
closing line from this very poem about the nun’s
include the grandmother. Her absence transforms
departure from the world. To Genji’s ears, the verse
the accompanying poem into the voice-over narra-
must suggest a certain justifi cation for taking the girl
tion of an absent fi gure, the vanished dew that has
and lends authority to his own stated belief that such
left its little plant behind.
Chapter 5 | Little Purple Gromwell | 43
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Noticing a mandarin orange tree
covered in snow, Genji ordered
one of his men to clear it off . A
neighboring pine, seemingly out of
envy, rose up and shook off its own
heavy branches. The cascades of
snow that suddenly came crashing
down reminded him of those
famous waves of Sue.
44
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6
The
Saffl
ower
Suetsumuhana
Tachibana no ki no uzumoretaru,
mizuijin meshite harawasetamau.
Urayami gao ni, matsu no ki no
onore okikaerite sato koboruru yuki
mo, na ni tatsu Sue no to miyuru.
45
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The fi rst chapters in The Tale of Genji present a series image in a cruel poem, privately scribbled to him-of remarkable female characters encountered by self, lamenting his association with the “saffl ower,”
the young Genji, and Chapter Six is no exception,
known for being picked by its bulbous red blossom:
introducing the incomparable Suetsumuhana, the
Natsukashiki
Not for this color
daughter of the late Hitachi Prince, eking out a mea-
Iro to mo nashi ni
Do I yearn, remembering
ger existence in her father’s desolate old mansion.
Nani ni kono
Some cozy love;
When the chapter begins, Genji is still mourning
Suetsumuhana o
Why did I brush against my sleeve
the loss of Yūgao and is susceptible to hints of pos-
Sode ni furekemu
The pinch-bright saffl
ower bloom?
sible women who might console him. When the
cranston, pp. 720–21
court lady Taifu no Myōbu, who as the daughter of
Genji’s childhood nurse relates to him like a sister,
The album painting depicts Genji in the prin-
speaks of a princess skilled at the koto and living
cess’s company on that bright winter morning, but
alone in straitened circumstances, Genji lets his while the tale’s prose may have been harsh, the court imagination get the best of him. In an encoun
ter
painter avoids picturing the woman’s unattractive-
staged by Myōbu, Genji does not get a glimpse of
ness. Indeed, she resembles most of the women in
the woman but overhears a few strains of her music.
the album, with a nose as petite as any other and
When in addition he discovers his f riend and rival
a forehead and jaw just as pleasantly round. Visual
Tō no Chūjō lurking in the princess’s garden at the
cues do, however, indicate that this is none other
same time, he is spurred into romantic action. He
than the woman nicknamed the Saffl
ower Princess.
begins sending poetic missives and enters into the
The hand raised to her mouth recalls the unattractive
rituals of courtship with nighttime visits, clearly
giggle she issues in lieu of a thoughtful response to
intrigued by the woman’s royal bloodline. After long
Genji’s banter. Meanwhile, a close look at the wom-
periods of utter silence on her part, or disappointing
an’s robe reveals short strokes of brown pigment
letters written by proxy, he begins to fear that her
and gold paint on the surface that connote her sable
reticence may refl ect nothing more than ineptitude
fur jacket, a hopelessly outdated and inappropriate
with the brush and versifi cation. And yet, because
garment that keeps her f rom f reezing in her dilap-
their late-night encounters have not aff orded him a
idated old house. The painting thus alludes to her
good look at her, he visits once more, leading to the
unsightly appearance and ruinous living conditions,
climactic moment in the chapter.
but still emphasizes Genji. Depicted beneath a prom-
In the stark light of a winter morning, with the
inent gold cloud, he glances outside at an attendant
sun refl ecting off the snow, Genji gets a clear view of
brushing snow f rom a mandarin orange tree. The
the woman’s features only to wish they could have
exterior scene is described in a charming manner in
remained hidden. He tries but fails to turn away and
the accompanying text, in which the chain reaction
instead fi xates on her attributes, giving the reader
of falling snow f rom tree to anthropomorphized
a unique and near clinical description of the char-
tree reminds Genji of a famous line of poetry. In the
acter’s physical appearance. Her torso is said to be
old poem, the speaker likens his drenched sleeves
overly long, her complexion so white that it looks
to waves of tumultuous rain pouring down on the
bluish, and her bone structure, the line of her jaw
“pine-laden mountain of Sue” ( Sue no matsuyama).
and forehead, disconcertingly angular and broad.
Gazing on the tableau in Suetsumuhana’s garden,
Most shocking to the young courtier, however, is
Genji revels in his own erudition and longs for a
her enormous nose, which prompts him to invoke
companion to understand the reference, someone
in comparison the proboscis of the bodhisattva other than the dim-witted princess.
Fugen’s elephant mount. The nose is lengthy enough
Although the passage in the tale has Genji
to extend outward and then curl under, ending with
glimpsing the snow shower f rom inside his carriage
a hideous bright red tip. Genji later conjures up this
while departing the residence, the album painting
46 | The Tale of Genji
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keeps him in the company of the princess during
literally means “the renowned Sue” ( na ni tatsu Sue)
this moment of poetic allusion. The reason for this
is likely more than coincidental. Viewed this way,
pictorial confl ation may simply represent an econ-
the hybrid image does double duty, emphasizing
omy of pictorial means, allowing for two scenes
the snow scene while including Suetsumuhana, the
within the narrow format of the album leaf. But
namesake of the chapter, depicted here with only a
the impetus to combine these moments may also
hint of unsightliness, so as not to detract f rom the
have come f rom the album’s patron. Note that a
commemoration of the patron. The image in the
line in the calligraphic excerpt, “the renowned Sue,”
album depicts a seemingly jovial couple, obscur-
contains a homophone for the surname of the Sue
ing the disappointment the princess engenders,
family, who commissioned the album. In the era
but perhaps also pointing to Genji’s compassion.
when the album was made, it was common prac-
Ultimately the misfortunes of the Saffl
ower Princess
tice at poetic gatherings to compose a line of verse
only highlight the benevolence of the young man as
that embedded within it the host’s surname. Ending
he overcomes his repulsion and commits to look-
the calligraphic passage in the album not only with
ing after the woman, bestowing his radiance on her
the homophone for “sue” but also with a line that
household for years to come.
Chapter 6 | The Safflower | 47
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Amidst the colorful shades of
falling autumn leaves, “Waves of
the Blue Sea” shone forth with
a frightening beauty.
48
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7
An Imperial
Celebration
of Autumn
Foliage
Momiji no ga
Iroiro ni chirikau ko no ha
no naka yori, Seigaiha no
kagayaki idetaru sama ito
osoroshiki made miyu.
49
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During the late autumn of Genji’s eighteenth year,
title of which appears near the bottom of the sheet,
against a seasonal backdrop of fall colors and falling
like rippling water that buoys the calligraphy above.
crimson leaves, a grand event is held at the palace of
The fi nal words of the excerpt hover at the top of
the Retired Emperor to celebrate his longevity. With
the sheet and describe the beauty of Genji’s perfor-
the reigning Kiritsubo Emperor (Genji’s father), mance as “frightening” ( osoroshiki) in its sublimity.
and the Crown Prince (Genji’s half brother) both
In the album painting all eyes a
re on Genji and
in attendance, the audience for the event includes
Tō no Chūjō, depicted in mid-performance. The
three generations of the imperial line. Lavish perfor-
three men of the imperial house, as custom dic-
mances take place before them as festive decorated
tates, do not appear, but are assumed to be within
boats fl oat across the pond, and as many as forty
the building to the left, concealed behind blinds.
musicians perform throughout the day. The most
Acting as their visual proxy, three noblemen seated
spectacular and moving presentation of the festivi-
on the veranda in black formal attire, their trains
ties is said to be Waves of the Blue Sea ( Seigaiha
draped over the balustrade, turn to gaze at the pair.
), a dance and song recitation set to Chinese-style
Meanwhile, in the lower right corner, a group of
music performed by Genji and Tō no Chūjō. The cal-
musicians appear mesmerized by the display. The
ligraphy leaf for Chapter Seven was fi ttingly brushed
branches of a maple tree at the height of its autumn
by the only imperial family member among the foliage enter the scene f rom the far right and seem album’s calligraphers, which augments the subject
to be the source of the red leaves that have scat-
matter of the painting. The blue background of the
tered on the ground and that decorate the men’s
sheet evokes the watery imagery of the dance, the
headdresses. In most paintings of this scene by later
artists, the musicians stand behind a black and red
curtain ( manmaku), which here surrounds the tree,
and the ensemble is usually shown with members
playing the drum ( dadaiko), reed pipe ( shō), and
small oboe ( hichiriki). This painting instead shows
at least some of the musicians pausing to watch the
performance. Following the choreography of this
particular dance, both Genji and Tō no Chūjō lunge
forward holding their right arm close to the body,
while fl uttering the voluminous sleeves of the left
to evoke the rolling waves of the sea.
The two men appear to be nearly identical in the
painting, despite the description in the tale that Tō
no Chūjō, although handsome and talented, is to
Genji as an average mountain tree is to a cherry tree
The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 9
